One of the highlights of my American adventure is without a doubt the witnessing of the changing of the seasons. It's really amazing the way nature works, like how it could be all snowy and dreary for all of 4 months, and then, the winds change and and the sun comes out bright and cheery to herald the spring. People have started lying on the grass in the sun all around campus, many in just shorts and tank tops, as if they have been deprived of Vitamin D and have finally found their antidote. I really should do the same one day...
The past week, I've also found something really interesting that has occurred here, and that is the sprouting of wildflowers all over the place. Many of the grass patches beside the sidewalks seem to be just filled with a whole variety of blooms, all of which are very colourful, and under the unrestricted sunlight, the colours are definitely very striking.
The flowers actually grow in a fairly orderly fashion, and I initially thought some people have planted them, but it seems that they are all wild. Amazing.
Some photographs here to share. Click on each picture to see the flowers in their full technicolour glory.
The sun goes down only after 8pm nowadays. I managed to capture these two shots of the evening the other day.
Today the weather was exceptionally sunny. Much more sunny than I expected, in fact. The temperature was around 15 deg C, but it felt rather warm. The wind was comfortably cool though, just like air-con, but without the stale air. Au naturel...
Went grocery shopping, and decided to replenish my supply of drinking water (only Aquafina for me, thanks to a friend who used to study in the US and got me sold on it....), so I could not take the bus but had to push my shopping trolley from the supermarket all the way back to my apartment.
Anyway, I realised that I was wearing the exact same clothes as when I first arrived in Ann Arbor last year (sometimes I remember strange things like that), and as I was pushing the trolley along the pavement, I somewhat recalled my first day here, when I had also gone grocery shopping and a sense of deja-vu washed over me, as I looked around. Has it been so many months now? It's such a cliche to say this but it feels as if I was walking down the pavement just days ago, and yet it's actually much further in the past.
Do I still feel the same sense of excitement? Honestly, I cannot tell. As I've always said, I cherish the opportunity to be independent and to lead life as a student abroad, and I believe I will continue to enjoy the next few months. But I think I would very much like to see my loved ones when the time arrives. Family, friends, even the duck rice aunty....(ok, maybe more the duck rice...).
Conflicting thoughts? Not really, more like just strange feelings.
In any case, I'll just continue the rest of my adventure here for the moment.
Saw this video of a new song recently, bittersweet feel. Great for a day like this.
And so April has arrived. Soon, it will be May, June, July, then August.
I'm nearing the end of my second semester here, and it's all starting to get pretty hectic. Many people here are looking forward to the end of the semester, as they will then go for their 4-month holidays before they return for the Fall semester.
Not me, though. I will be taking summer courses so that I could complete my course in "double quick time". But it's fine, I guess, I think I still have the stamina to continue.
The sun's been going down later this week, and there is generally fair, sunny weather all day. Reminds me of the time when I first arrived. Was it really that long ago?
I love the pulsating beats and sounds of the city. So vibrant, so energetic! I’m in New York!!!!
On the invitation of a friend, I decided to spend my Easter in the Big Apple, and was I in for a real treat! The city is just so full of life, and I’m reminded once again why I am very much an urbanite. This probably makes me sound very deprived, but all the sights, sounds and smells of the city were calling out to me from the moment I touched down at La Guardia airport. The excitement in me simply burst out in joy (thankfully not in fits) as the airport shuttle traversed the highway and took me right into Manhattan, the heart of New York City. I have never felt so delightfully overwhelmed by the city before….
Anyway, for the next two days, I managed to take in quite a lot of sights in NYC (New York, baby!). Navigating around the city was really easy, with the sophisticated subway network and the streets that were all numbered sequentially. I had planned a rather simple itinerary for myself, in addition to meeting up with friends, but I surprised myself (and my friends) when in the end I managed to take in more places than expected. Superb, indeed!
Of course, being in NYC for the first time, I went crazy with the camera, and recorded about 240 shots. Here’s a sprinkling of the photographs I took.
Central Park
The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
Views from the famous Empire State Building. My friend and I decided to go up at night, so that we could get a different picturesque view of New York City, and we were not disappointed. The observatory was opened till 2am, and it was very very crowded when we went at about 9pm. This experience was made more interesting by the fact that the observatory was outdoors, so we were there on the 86th floor, with the freezing wind blowing, admiring the stunning night views, and snapping pictures away happily.
On board the Staten Island ferry (free), to see the Statue of Liberty (located in Liberty Island). Having heard so much about it, and read about it as well, it was a surreal feeling to see the real thing, even if I was some distance away.
Scenes from Times Square, day and night. Yes, the famous Times Square, where 7th Avenue meets Broadway. The illuminating and illuminated billboards were impossible to ignore, and standing in the middle of the square (which is more a triangle….), and just looking around, all parts of your senses are hit by the lights and sounds. A truly spectacular visual and aural encounter. Lovely, lovely, lovely!
It is no wonder that throughout history, many musicians and writers have paid tribute to this city. This has been the best Easter in my living memory. Thank you, New York, I will be back!
And so the spring really has arrived. For real… well, according to the calendar, anyway. The weather channel couldn’t wait to make the announcement as well. This signals the third change of season for me here, and the first one which doesn’t seem as drastic. The changes from summer to autumn and from autumn to winter were much more binary in nature, whereas this one appears quite fuzzy. Maybe it’s because I have never experienced what spring weather is like. In fact, I honestly do not have much of a concept of how spring should look like.
But I’m liking it so far. Sunny weather, but not too hot, because the cold wind is still lingering. However, the cold of the wind is not chilly like in winter, and there is just that little tinge of warmth, which escalates in intensity once you use a little imagination. Walking along the road, with my jacket on, I get this sense of something refreshing. It’s not exactly the feeling of starting anew, because the trees are still bare (the non-evergreens anyway), and there are no flowers whatsoever. However, it’s somewhat a positive feeling of je-ne-sais-quoi.
To commemorate the day, I thought I’d take some photographs. The surroundings don’t look that scenic, but they present a different façade from the white, wintry scenes of the past few months.
Clouds in the sky
Shadows of the day
Sunset on the first day of spring...
Ah come, come quickly, spring!
come and lift us towards our culmination, we myriads;
we who have never flowered, like patient cactuses.
Come and lift us to our end, to blossom, bring us to our summer
we who are winter-weary in the winter of the of the world.
Come making the chaffinch nests hollow and cosy,
come and soften the willow buds till they are puffed and furred,
I think.... There is still snow on the ground and temperatures still slip to sub-zero from time to time. But the days are getting longer, especially with the start of daylight savings. Also, the wind feels much less chilly, and I can finally walk on the streets without wearing a beanie.
It's funny how one gets used to the weather. I remember when the temperatures first went below 10 deg C last year, I was shivering and all wrapped up, but now with temperatures just slightly above zero, I actually find it very cooling and comfortable. Am I prepared for a "meltdown" when I return to Singapore later in the year?
A good friend sent this poem to me recently, as a form of encouragement. Feels like a good call for self renewal....
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and to be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion."
Walden or Life in the Woods - Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)
